Monday, October 9, 2023

Spain

Going into the National Championships, I had a couple goals in mind. After looking at past results, I believed I could make the podium (top 10 make podium). I have only ever done the Olympic distance at Nationals in the past, and I only made the podium once (2 years ago I was 9th). My very first year of racing Nationals was back in 2014. Top 18 qualify for Team USA with the Olympic distance, and that was my #1 goal, as Chicago was hosting the World Championships in 2015 (qualification happens a year prior). I made it, finishing 17th! There are also what is known as “roll down” slots. Basically, Team USA can take a total of 18 per age group and slots will roll down as far as 29th. My goal was definitely to automatically qualify though and lock down my spot!

Of my 7 years racing Nationals, my first 6 were Olympic distance, and I have automatically qualified 4 of those times, been offered a roll down slot once (the year I decided 2 weeks prior to the race that I would do it so I started biking and swimming 2 weeks out), and I failed to finish in the top 29 once (my worst race ever when I wanted to drop out and quit). This year was my first year with the Sprint distance. Only EIGHT automatically qualify with the sprint distance. In the past I have always felt that I had slim chance of being able to automatically qualify with the sprint distance. My philosophy in the past was always that I could out-train people in the longer distances, but that I have never been naturally fast enough to compete well at shorter distances. 

2015 Chicago World Championship

Things have also changed in the triathlon world. When I was racing World’s at the Olympic distance (2015 & 2016), the sprint distance raced the same weekend at the same venue. Then a couple years ago, they separated the World Championships for them, moving the Sprint World Championships from the fall to the summer, and making it a draft legal race. This means that, even though I could qualify in a non-draft National Championship race using my time trial bike, I would need a road bike for World’s and racing strategy changes as well (time trial bikes/aero bars are not legal in draft legal races for safety reasons).

At first the draft legal concept was intimidating (my first bike crash was drafting related), but the summer time frame was VERY appealing! It felt like this was my shot at having the opportunity to compete for Team USA again. I coach volleyball in the fall, so when it was in Chicago, I only had to miss one game. When I went to Cozumel, I had to miss a week of volleyball, which is pretty uncomfortable as head coach. As my team was improving over the years, I just couldn’t miss any time in the gym anymore. After that, I stopped taking any Team USA slots that I was offered.

2016 Cozumel World Championship
Going into Nationals, I assumed Sprint World’s would take place in the summer of 2024 (ideally in July like it was this year). A couple weeks after Nationals, qualifiers received an email stating that dates were yet to be announced, but that it would likely be in October. By that point, I was already decided on accepting my spot if the dates were possible. I had tried on Team USA race kits at Nationals for sizing. I was ready to take the plunge, even though it meant competing in a draft-legal race.

A couple days ago, the dates were officially announced as October 17-20. Sprint World’s will compete alongside Olympic distance again in the fall. It may stay that way. As disappointing as it is, it just means that I will have to shift towards a new goal. There have also been rumors that Nationals will be hosted in New Jersey in September next year, which I would not want to do. Maybe it’s just time to take a season off from triathlon again.


Monday, September 11, 2023

Running Bear Triathlon 2023

As the 2x champion of this race, and it being a good “just for the fun of it” type of race, I decided to go up to Three Lakes for the Running Bear triathlon again this year. Baya came along with me, and we just went up for the day. We had done a family trip right after Nationals, so with only a week between Nationals and this race, I did zero training again for it. 

         While the intention is just to have fun with this race, of course I can’t be happy with subpar performance either. It’s a tough balance to find. If someone knows the secret to that, let me know! This is the race that starts with the bike and ends with the swim. The bike route is a fun one, and 2 men pulled away pretty early, leaving me in 3rd behind them. I wear running shoes for this race, so I can make the first transition as fast as possible. When I got to the cabin (T1) to drop my bike off, I literally hopped off and told a volunteer, “Here take it,” and quick took off my helmet and hit the road running.

I knew the men had quite the lead at that point so I knew it would take a fast run to try to close the gap. Not far behind me though was the next woman, who I knew had been a good collegiate runner. I could not let up on the gas at that point. The run is brutal though! There are so many tough hills. I glanced behind me a few times to see if I could see her gaining on me. I didn’t want her to pass me without me knowing it was coming! Nearing the end of the run and not seeing anyone coming up on me, I felt confident that I could hold the lead, but unfortunately I also hadn’t caught sight of either of the men in front of me.

My strategy for the race this year was to make transitions as fast as possible, so for T2, I hardly slowed down. A volunteer handed me my goggles from my transition bag, I kicked off my shoes as I ran, and just kept going with my socks on. By time I was down on the dock, I could see the lead male exiting the water and the second male ahead of me at least halfway across. I guess I wasn’t beating the males this year either, but I was first female overall by almost 4 full minutes, which in a race that short, is a sizable distance.

That concludes the triathlon season already for 2023! Now I wait for an official announcement regarding dates for Spain.


Thursday, August 31, 2023

USAT Milwaukee Sprint Nationals

This was my 7th time racing at USAT Nationals, but every other year I have raced the Olympic distance (1500m swim/40k bike/10k run). Sprint distance is literally half the distance in each event, which made the training load a lot more manageable amidst the chaos of our lives right now. It still seemed like too much at times, and I had seriously contemplated pulling out of it altogether. I love finding out what I am capable of though, so I pushed through. Looking at past results, I thought I had a chance at making podium (which I have only done once before at Nationals – 2 years ago when I placed 9th). It takes making top 8 to automatically qualify for the World Championships, but I thought I had a chance, so that was my goal going into the race. Shoot high, right?

As I was packing for the race, I could not find one of my triathlon gear bags. Since our house is under construction and we are living in only half of it right now, we have yet to unpack all of our boxes. After driving myself crazy that I could not find it, I accepted the fact that I would have to just buy a race belt (usually around $10) at the race expo. For Nationals, we have to pick up our race packet as well as check in our bike the day before the race. Fortunately, I caught the fact that I had missed the packet pick-up closing time and adjusted our leave time (I would have been 2 hours late and missed it!). We of course didn’t leave as early as I was hoping either, and then after we left we had to turn back around to switch out cars because the one we started with didn’t sound so good! I spent the rest of the drive stressing out about getting parked and to packet pick-up in time.

Andy dropped me off with my gear and I made it to packet pick-up with 15 minutes to spare. Whew! After getting all checked in, buying a new race belt at the expo, and doing a shake-out run, Andy and I went out to eat. Later as we were pulling into our hotel, I realized that I had forgotten to pack my pre-race breakfast! I ALWAYS pack my breakfast, which is ALWAYS the same thing every time. Things just didn’t seem to be going my way. The hotel offered a packed breakfast bag to-go that I was able to pick up in the morning, and it actually had good pre-race items. I got my transition set up, and my wave started at 7:23am, which was great compared to a 9:22am start that I would have had with the Olympic distance!

I felt like I had a good start with my swim but it wasn’t long before I was getting passed. My time was slower than what I know I should be able to do, but I didn’t want to focus on my time being slow. I hoped to make up for it on the bike. I was really grateful for the shorter distances while I was out there racing! The bike ended up being a lot tougher than what I was hoping. The first half went alright, but when it came to the bridge, the cross wind was so brutal that when I got to the downhill, I felt like the wind could literally knock me over. I had the disc on the back wheel, but I think even if I hadn’t had that on, I would have still felt unsteady. That was the most terrified I have ever felt in the wind. I needed to take advantage of the downhill to make up for the lost time in the ascent, but I felt so unsteady that I stayed out of my aero bars and I could not push the speed. That was incredibly discouraging.

         I switched out my bike for my run gear in T2 and started running through transition when suddenly I realized that I had forgotten to grab my race belt with my bib number (remember that race belt I had just bought the day before for this?!)! So I TURNED AROUND and went back and grabbed the race belt by my stuff and buckled it on. I wasted more time yet again. I tried to just start catching anybody who was in front of me at that point, which with age groups overlapping at this point, there were plenty to chase down. Someone called out, “Good job, 6302!” and I got nervous because that must have meant that someone from my age group was right behind me (I was 6304).

The first mile was too slow, probably around 6:52. That was also about the point at which I saw Andy and asked him what place I was in. He said 8th. Two miles to go. I had done that distance so many times in training I reassured myself and picked up the pace. I wanted to hold that spot. Top 10 make the podium. Top 8 automatically qualify for the World Championships. I could not let anyone catch me at that point. My best bet was to try to catch the next one in front of me. A man passed me at a good clip and I decided to go with him. With a half mile to go, someone again yelled, “Nice job, 6302!” At that point I was suspicious so I looked down at the race bib I had put on and I had accidentally grabbed my transition neighbor’s belt! What a doofus! I wasted that time in transition for nothing, as I then flipped my belt around so nobody else would read my bib as I finished the race (my timing chip was on my ankle so it didn’t affect results or anything like that). In the last quarter mile, I pushed hard. When I hit the carpet for the finish chute, I gave it anything I had left. 

I finished 8th in 1:14:23, surpassing my goal of 1:15 and accomplishing what I had believed I could do. I not only made podium, but I placed high enough to automatically qualify for Team USA for the World Championships in Malaga, Spain for 2024! There were so many times, leading up to the race, and during the race, that I could have felt defeated (and there were times in training where I was definitely defeated!). But if life has taught me nothing else, I should know that when things don’t go your way, keeping pushing ahead. Live unashamed. Live without regrets. Also, don’t take someone else’s race bib.


Catching Up

It’s been a long time since I posted (a year!), but there have been big events, which has kept me too busy to keep up with the blog, but which I would also like to write about. Last year after Nationals, I thought I would take 2023 off from triathlon. I was discouraged by my results at Nationals (after all, even though I qualified for Team USA again, I didn’t have the time I wanted and didn’t make podium like the year prior). Then I did the Three Lakes triathlon and had a lot of fun, so I thought maybe I would just drop down to the Sprint distance at Nationals (once they finally announced that it would be returning to Milwaukee for another year). I love racing in Milwaukee. USAT does a great job hosting there, it’s in my own state, and from start to finish it’s a great course! So once the location was announced, I took the plunge and registered for the sprint distance for Nationals.

During the past year though, our family has undergone an immense number of changes. July of 2022, we got the phone call about a safe haven baby boy who was in need of a home. For those that don’t know much of our adoption journey, we actually applied for the domestic infant program through Lutheran Social Services (LSS) when Rowyn was about 6 months old. We knew that it could be a long process and a long wait. Four years later, we decided to transfer out of that program and into public adoption. This was a hard decision, but our children were getting a lot older, and with no end in sight for the waiting period, we thought we would go the route of a young child(ren) instead of a baby. After almost a year in that program, we go the phone call. Life really does change that fast. Wyatt was 3 days old already and was in the NICU in Marshfield. We visited him that night and brought him home at a week old! Who needs more than 4 days to get ready for a baby?! Never mind the fact that I had just cleaned out all of our baby stuff the weeks to months prior to this!

Wyatt was a huge blessing at a tough time in our lives. Throwing a baby into the mix at a time of transition and uncertainty definitely hasn’t been easy, but we are ever so grateful for him! We were at a time of job searching, the kids getting into swim club and hockey, and then finally moving this past winter. New schools, new jobs, an apartment, selling our dream house, and recently moving into a new house, we have been challenged in so many ways.

In the midst of this constant state of chaos, I also attempted to train for sprint Nationals. I lost our lake for swim training, but we bought season passes to the waterpark in town, so 0-2 times/week I would swim some quick laps there. I tried to get in 2 bike rides/week, and besides a couple 20-milers, they were mostly really short rides. Honestly, I don’t think I would have had the willpower or motivation to train for the Olympic distance this year. It has just been too much to take on. I am fortunate that I was able to get as much training in as I did. I like to do the distance workouts during the track season, which was super helpful for getting a good run base established early on at least. I typically kept up with 5 runs/week, which included 2 hard runs off the bike, a long run, and 2 other easy runs. The runs off the bike were often 2 miles hard. The fall-back goal was sub-7 pace, but I had some good ones that I averaged 6:43 and 6:41, so I thought I was capable of holding a decent pace on race day.

As if I didn’t have enough going on with all those other things, I also started a new Track Club and competed in 4 meets. That will be for later posts though, so I’ll be jumping around in the timeline a bit. Next up, I’ll share the blunders, mishaps, and victories that were sprint Nationals!



Wednesday, August 17, 2022

Running Bear Triathlon 2022

Before I even got to Nationals, I was feeling burned out and just very tired. My thought was to take end my season after the race, and take off next season. Last year, I did the Running Bear Triathlon in Three Lakes the weekend after Nationals and had fun with that. This year though, I felt like I couldn’t push for another week. I would take off from structured training after Nationals, and would see what I felt like doing. Well, I held true to my word, and did no swimming, biking, or running that week, until Saturday when I did an easy 3 mile run, simply because I needed to be moving again.

Sunday morning I woke up and told Andy that I was going to do the race as long as my tires weren’t flat. Good to go! It didn’t start until 11am, so I had plenty of time to make a decision and pack up for it. Last year I was 2nd behind the overall male by only 1:18, so early in the season, I was hoping to get in some hard training for an attempt at beating him. Since life has had a lot of curveballs, my goal became to just have fun and I figured I should still be able to finish as Top Female. 

I was trying to come up with little ways to cut time, as the Top Male had beat me out of T1 since I was changing my shoes and he wasn’t! So I tested out riding my bike with my running flats on and felt comfortable with that plan. In T2 last year, I had also put a swim cap on and took a drink of water. This year, I had my hair braided so I could skip the swim cap and I didn’t bother with a water bottle for transition since the swim is so short anyway.

The returning male champ took a lead right away on the bike and I couldn’t go with him, but tried to keep him within my sight as much as possible. The bike has a lot of curves and rolling hills, so it’s pretty fun. I was passed by another male that caught up to the lead and stayed on his tail for a chunk of it, but he eventually dropped off from him and I couldn’t see the lead anymore at all. The last quarter mile of the bike is on gravel, but I felt a lot more confident going over it this year. I caught and passed the guy in second in T1 as he was changing his shoes and I could just take off on the run!

I felt a lot stronger on the run this year than last year, probably because I didn’t push as hard on the bike (and I really have had great run training this year!). As I was running out, there were a lot of bikers coming in, including females, so I focused on staying relaxed but pushing on the run. I widened my lead on those behind me and I was slowly gaining on the lead male. The final mile has some tough hills and I lost sight of anyone else.

When I got to T2, I took off my shoes and socks, grabbed my goggles and hurried down to the water. I could see the leader in the water still! I knew it would be tough to catch him, so I just tried to swim strong, in a straight line (not so well), and catch my breath from the run. I came out of the water only 37 seconds behind the lead male, cutting the gap in half from last year! I also ended up dropping 2 seconds from my overall time from last year. That may not seem like much, but I was impressed I could pull that off this year! Maybe I’m not quite ready to rule out triathlons from next summer yet. But maybe I’m ready to dropping down to the shorter sprint distance races at least. I must say, it was nice to end on a good note feeling positive about things!